PERFORMERSSCOTT BLAKEMAN

DJ KID MAGICJEFF KREISLER

LARRY LITTJOE PONTILLO

SUSPICIOUS PACKAGEMARThA WILSON

A POLITICAL CABARET OF PERFORMERS PRODUCED BY LARRY LITT

POLITICAL SATIRE AT PRATT MANHATTAN

ARTISTSCLARK CLARK(EN)

KYLE GOENChERYL hARPER

KENNETh TIN-KIN hUNGLIGORANO/REESE

JACK MCLEANARNOLD MESChES

DAN MILLSTIM ROLLINS AND KOSCLAUDE vAN LINGEN

PETER SAULALLAN WExLER

YEE hAW INDUSTRIES

A PRATT MANHATTAN gALLERY ExHIBITION gUEST-CURATED BY ELEANOR HEARTNEY AND

LARRY LITTSeptember 26–November 4, 2008

Opening reception: Thursday, September 25, 6–8 PM

Nick Battis, Director of ExhibitionsJen Osborne, Assistant Director of Exhibitions

Pratt Manhattan gallery144 West 14th StreetNew York, NY 10011

www.pratt.edu/exhibitions

Introduction voting for president is one of the most important

duties of American citizenship, but presidential

campaigns often seem to have more in common

with competitive sports, circus spectaculars, and

low-brow comedy routines than with serious

deliberation about the future of the country. Of-

ten referred to as “the silly season,” the months

leading up to a presidential campaign serve up

democracy as a form of entertainment as the

airwaves, newspapers, and other media explode

with non-stop attack ads, 24/7 talking heads,

punches and counter punches, and irreconcil-

able poll data. how is one to make sense of it all?

how can one push aside the noise to make

a responsible choice?

“Party headquarters: voting is Just the Begin-

ning” presents the work of artists or artists’

groups who have focused both on the art of

persuasion and the persuasion of art. In a group

of works that draw on aspects of presidential

politics and political campaigns past and pres-

ent, the works suggest that politics is an activity

that is simultaneously deeply important, absurd,

humorous, fulfilling, and infuriating. Despite

their clear-headed awareness that our politi-

cal system is anything but picture perfect, they

reject the cynical view that purer hearts should

refrain from the corrupting touch of politics. In-

stead, they throw themselves into the fray, using

all the weapons in the artist’s arsenal to counter

the distracting and often deadening effects of

the mass media political campaign.

To this end the artists rework various visual

genres, ranging from high art and political cari-

cature to political advertising and architecture,

using these diverse formats to present alterna-

tives and visual critiques of mainstream media’s

presentation of politics, current events, and cur-

rent policy debates. For instance, Clark Clark(en)

presents a reworking of Robert Indiana’s famous

LOvE logo to persuade us to engage in the elec-

toral system. In an age of branding, his vOTE

logo can take many forms—from small stick-on

labels to wall-size murals, all of them serving

as a reminder that those who don’t participate

have no cause to complain. Yee haw Industries/

Kevin Bradley, a print workshop specializing in

old timey woodblock and letterpress prints and

posters, here presents a witty reformulation of

the presidential and vice presidential campaigns

as a wrestling match. Familiar characters face

off against each other with a pugilism that is

anything but exaggerated. Arnold Mesches, a

politically involved artist for over five decades,

here evokes the chaos and excitement of con-

temporary political conventions, revealing how

spectacle and entertainment tend to overwhelm

their supposed deliberative function.

Borrowing the rapier sting of the traditional

political cartoon, Tim Rollins and the Kids of

Survival (KOS) update their classic Reagan-era

Animal Farm caricatures with faces from the

current presidential field. Jack McLean takes a

more general look at the political field with a set

of satiric representations of politicians enact-

ing their roles with an almost kabuki-like set of

gesticulations. In his series American Icons, Dan

Mills conflates various public figures with their

(usually very unflattering) cartoon alter egos. he

also contributes a reworking of Emanuel Leu-

tze’s 1851 painting, George Washington Crossing

the Delaware, providing a mock heroic spin to

the aspirations of the Democratic Party to retake

Washington, D.C. in 2008.

In a similar spirit, Kenneth Tin-Kin hung uses a

rapid fire, video game-like format in fast moving

digital collages that replay the recent primary

campaigns as narratives of greed, fatuousness,

obfuscation, and overweening ambition. Cheryl

harper uses an older art form—the ceramic

bust and vessel—to create pointed caricatures

of some of the most prominent players on the

current political scene, suggesting, literally, their

clay feet. And Peter Saul, a master of the witty

skewering of politicians, presents a bit of histori-

cal context here with a work from the vietnam

era that offers a precedent for the toxic mix of

machismo and sex that pervades the current po-

litical discussion of America’s role in the world.

In a performance and its residual wall drawing,

Claude van Lingen takes a more sober look at

the consequences of our presidential choices,

suggesting that we bear a responsibility, not just

to ourselves, but also to those who will suffer the

harshest consequences of failed policies. Nora

Ligorano and Marshal Reese suggest the

fragile nature of our commitment to democracy

with a video of an ice sculpture whose slow

disintegration suggests an elegy to our finest

political aspirations.

Other artists bring the outside world into the

gallery and the gallery into the outside world.

Kyle Goen has created a shrine to the hopes

and fears raised by this year’s campaign. visitors

are invited to take a copy of the U.S. Constitution

and to contribute to the political ephemera, cam-

paign pamphlets, buttons, stickers, and publicity

photos that operate as offerings to the dream of

a better future. And finally, Allan Wexler took a

specially commissioned voter registration booth

to the streets in the weeks before the close of

voter registrations in New York, at once drawing

attention to the importance of political partici-

pation and offering practical help to those who

want to be eligible to participate in this fall’s

presidential election. Accompanying the works

on view is a looped slide show suggesting the

long art historical reach and widespread impact

of the impulse toward political satire and politi-

cal commentary.

“Party headquarters,” along with “Pratt Falls,”

its accompanying performance series, is devoted

to the idea of serious fun—politics may be a

horse race and a spectacle, but it is one whose

consequences could not be more profound.

voting is, indeed, just the beginning.

Eleanor Heartney and Larry Litt, guest curators

Clark Clark(en)Love to Vote, 2008

Site-specific painting on gallery windows and wallCourtesy of the artist

Kyle Goen Altar of Hope and Fear, 2008

Mixed media installation, 8 x 8’ room

Courtesy of the artist

Cheryl HarperCount on Me–Obama Bank, 2008

Stoneware, 15 x 8½ x 9”

Condoleezza Sphinx, 2007

Stoneware, 13 x 8 x 17”

Hillary Bride Doll, 2008

Paper clay stoneware, 21 x 10 x 13”

Hillary Sphinx 2, 2006

Stoneware, 17 x 13 x 7”

Pot Calling the Kettle, 2008

Terra cotta, acrylic, phone cord,

10 x 19 x 10”

Courtesy of the artist

Kenneth Tin-Kin HungShamnesty Straight Talk Express, 2008

Digital print on canvas, 36 x 64”

Courtesy of the artist and Postmasters Gallery

Borat Obama Change We Can Cash In, 2008

Digital print on canvas, 36 x 64”

Courtesy of the artist and Postmasters Gallery

Residential Erection, 2008

high definition video, 5:00 minutes

Created and directed by Kenneth

Tin-Kin hung; narration written and

performed by Tim Blue; music by John Blue

Ligorano/ReeseThe State of Things, 2006

DvD, 1 minute, 15 seconds

Open edition

Courtesy Jim Kempner Fine Art, Chelsea

Democracy, 2007

Lightbox, 13 x 25 x 3½”

Edition of 25

Courtesy of Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York

Jack McLeanTop Prime Cut Meat #1, 2008

Charcoal on paper, 23¼ x 16½”

Top Prime Cut Meat #2, 2008

Charcoal on paper, 23¼ x 16½”

Top Prime Cut Meat #3, 2008

Charcoal on paper, 23¼ x 16½”

Top Prime Cut Meat #4, 2008

Charcoal on paper, 23¼ x 16½”

Top Prime Cut Meat #5, 2008

Charcoal on paper, 23¼ x 16½”

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Thom

Arnold MeschesConventions, 2007

Ink on paper3 panels, each 11¾ x 24”Courtesy of the artist

Dan MillsDemocrats Crossing the Delaware, 2006

Digital c-print, edition 1/3, 22 x 30”

image size, 30 x 38” framed

Condoleezza Fatale, 2006

Watercolor on paper, 14 x 11”

Uncle W., 2005

Watercolor on paper, 14 x 11”

Dick, 2006

Watercolor on paper, 18 x 9”

Courtesy of the artist and Zolla/Lieberman

Gallery, Chicago

Tim Rollins and KOSAnimal Farm ’08 (after George Orwell), 2008

Mixed media on canvas, 54 x 72”

Courtesy of Lehman Maupin Gallery, New York

Peter SaulCommy Gal, 1967

Lithograph, 11 x 8¼”

Signed, dated and numbered recto

Edition of 120

Courtesy David Nolan Gallery, New York

5 8

Claude van Lingen The Dead Don’t Vote, 2008

Performance and 6 x 6’ drawing on wall

Courtesy of the artist

Allan WexlerNew York Voter Registration Center, 2008

Mixed media, pegboard, American flag

Courtesy of the artist

The New York Voter Registration Center

travelled to various locations in New York

City from August 26 – October 10, 2008

and registered nearly 1000 voters.

Photographs: Larry Litt

Yee-Haw Industries/Kevin BradleyPresidential Wrestling, 2008

handprinted letterpress, 42½ x 30”

Edition of 100

Vice Presidential Wrestling, 2008

handprinted letterpress, 42½ x 30”

Edition of 100

Courtesy of the artist

Top: Comedian Scott Blakeman, October 3, 2008

Top: Comedian Jeff Kreisler, October 10, 2008

Top: “Party Headquarters,” guest-curators Eleanor Heartney as Sarah Palin and Larry Litt, hosting from the “V.F.W. Hall”

Bottom: “Obama Girl,” guest at party

“Party Headquarters” guest as George W. Bush

Top: Comedian V.J. Michael Richardson, middle, with D.J. Kid Magic, far right

Middle: Guests reacting to election results

Bottom: Comedian Angry Bob Flashpants Au Lait, Miss Emilia, and Billy the Kid of Suspicious Package perform three skits

Top: Comedian Joe Pontillo, October 17, 2008

Bottom: Larry “Christeby” Litt, mock auction, “What is Political Art Really Worth?”October 17, 2008

Top: Martha Wilson as Barbara Bush, October 24, 2008

Bottom: Martha Wilson as Barbara Bush interviewed by Larry Litt as Prince Turki al Zar Hazel of Saudi Arabia broadcasting for “Al Shmazeera RV,” October 24, 2008

Party HeadquartersCLOSINg PARTY/ELECTION NIgHT WATCH PARTY, NOVEMBER 4, 2008

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